Published 07/29/2014 By
Jeff Tamarkin

Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival Returning to Macao

Bands will compete for thousands of dollars in prizes

Macao’s Cotai Jazz & Blues Festival will return for its third year at the Venetian Macao Oct. 9-12. The event, supported by Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao’s SAR Government, features the return of the Jazz & Blues competition. Applications for entrants are already available and will remain open until Sept. 1. Twelve bands will be selected and will have all expenses paid to come to Macao and compete over a four-day period. The winners take a cash prize of total 550,000 Hong Kong dollars ($70,000 U.S.).

This year a second stage has been added, floating in the lagoon area, and an additional chill-out area has also been added, along with many food and beverage options and an expanded seating area.

The Jazz & Blues competition is open to individual artists, vocalists, instrumentalists and groups of up to six musicians from anywhere in the world, with the 12 finalists to perform to daily audiences of tens of thousands of Cotai Strip Resorts Macao visitors. The deadline for application is Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. Hong Kong Time (HKT). Finalists will be announced Sept. 12 (HKT) via CotaiStrip.com.

Prize amounts are as follows:

First prize: HK$250,000

Second prize: HK$150,000

Third prize: HK$100,000

This year’s competition is also introducing a Special Recognition Award, with HK$50,000 to go to a band generating a positive public response, but not finishing in the top three.

Applications can be submitted online via CotaiStrip.com, and participants are asked to share a Web link of a live performance via online channels such as YouTube.